Cooties and Wishes
by WitchyElphaba
Summary: A younger Sora finds himself drawn to a girl in his class, but is there more in store for him than this type of newcomer? PreKH


This is based off an experience a friend of mine went through when he was younger. I thought it was so sad, and I pictured this happening to Sora.

I also just realized how much I love writing Sora as a young kid, it's so adorable!

Oh, yeah, this is my first original character, but she's not entirely significant. I just needed another girl that wasn't Selphie or Kairi.

Well, enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **I'm not Square-Enix or Disney, or I wouldn't be posting this here.

* * *

"Sora. Psst, hey, Sora!" 

Tidus prodded his friend, who finally broke out of his trance and looked at him.

"What?"

"Lemme borrow your crayon box!"

"Oh, yeah, here..."

Sora handed over is crayon box. It was art time in Sora's second grade class, but he was not giving his attention to his drawing. His eyes were focused dreamily across the room on the blonde-haired, brown-eyed girl happily sketching away at her drawing.

Sora smiled. Emmie was from another Island, and had recently moved here. Although Sora firmly knew that girl's were weird and had a bunch of cooties, he found himself drawn to Emmie. He had welcomed her with a wide smile when she first walked into his classroom, but she didn't seem shy. The seven-year-old blonde proved to be quite the social butterfly, with all the girls, including Selphie, yearning to be her best friend.

"Alright, children, it's time to clean up, it's almost time to go home."

Tidus gathered up the borrowed crayons and held them out to Sora, who did not even notice him. Tidus stared at him, then looked across the room at Emmie.

"You don't _like_ her, do you?"

When Sora didn't respond, Tidus snickered. "Ew! Sora, you _know_ girls have _cooties_, don't you? Lot's and lot's of them!"

"Maybe not all girls have them?" Sora suggested. Tidus shook his head.

"No, they ALL have them. If you catch any, me and Riku aren't going to go close to you! Maybe Wakka will, 'cause he's stronger against cooties..."

Sora paid no attention to Tidus, who was seriously concerned now. He looked across the room at Emmie and back at his friend. He decided blackmail was the only option.

"If you don't stop liking her..."

Sora looked at him. "What?"

Tidus snickered. "I'll tell Riku!"

Sora gasped. "No! He'll kill me! He won't come near me! He'll hate me for having a girlfriend before he does!"

"Well, then promise you won't like her anymore, and Riku won't kill you!"

"I...uh...okay _fine_!" Tidus smirked and walked away, putting his little backpack on his back.

Now it was Sora's turn to snicker. He brought up his hand; his fingers had been crossed, meaning his promise didn't matter.

* * *

"Hi Emmie!" 

The little blonde was sitting at the base of a large tree in front of the school. She looked up at Sora and blinked.

"Hello!"

"Watcha doing here still?" Sora asked, taking a seat next to her.

"Waiting for mommy to pick me up. What about you?"

"I'm waiting for my friend, Riku. We're gonna go to the Island together. Hey, wanna come!" Sora asked hopefully. "You can go swimming and climbing and play with Selphie and Tidus--well, Tidus is a little scared of girls, but Riku and Wakka and me aren't! You haven't been there yet, huh?"

"I don't like swimming, my eyes start to sting and they hurt."

"Oh, well, that's not fun. Umm...well you can play with Selphie..." Sora faltered as Emmie wrinkled her nose.

"Selphie's annoying. She's been trying to get me to go to the Island too, but I don't like swimming. Or sand, it gets in my shoes."

Sora blinked. Who doesn't like swimming? And yeah, sand could get annoying, but it was much more fun when running barefoot. _Oh well, she's still pretty!_

"Hey Sora, you ready?"

Sora turned and saw his silver-haired friend walking towards him. Emmie stared at him. "Who's that?"

"That's Riku! Riku's awesome, he's good at _everything_! He's my bestest friend! Over here, Riku!"

Even at eight years old, Riku stood taller than Sora, but Sora's always-spikey hair made them seem as if they were of equal height. Riku smiled brightly at Sora.

"We'll stop by your house so you can get your sword," Riku looked at the girl sitting next to Sora. To Riku's horror, she was staring at him quite a bit. "Um..hi."

"Riku, this is Emmie, she just moved here from another Island!"

Riku waved, then looked at Sora. He hated it when girls stared at him. "Let's go, Sora."

"Okay. Bye Emmie, see you tomorrow!"

"Bye."

Sora walked down the path with Riku, who was walking rather quickly. Sora jogged slightly to keep up.

"Wait up! Why're you in a rush?"

"I don't like it when girls look at me. They're creepy."

Sora sighed. Was he doomed to always be forbidden to like a girl?

"Hey...Riku, I'm not feeling too well, I think I'm gonna stay home..."

"Huh?" Riku stopped and looked at his friend. "You looked ine a second ago..."

"Yeah, well, I don't _feel_ fine," Sora said, not looking at Riku. He started walking ahead, and soon, broke into a run towards his home. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Um, okay...bye Sora...!" Riku called out, watching his friend leave. Riku knew something else was up, but didn't know what. He'd find out soon, anyways; Sora almost always confided in Sora, even if Sora had decided not to. Riku shrugged and turned to head home.

* * *

"Mom!" 

"Hello Sora, I thought you were going to the Island today?" Sora's mother walked out of the kitchen and looked at her small son, who looked rather miserable. "Are you okay, honey?"

"No! Why does everybody hate girls? Are they really that gross?"

Sora's mother smiled. She knew what was happening.

"Well, I'm a girl. Am I gross?"

"No, you're a mom! Mom's aren't gross, they're cool!"

"Well, you know, little girls think boys are sometimes gross too."

"Really? They're the ones with cooties!"

Sora's mother took his hand and led him into the kitchen. She did not exactly want to tell him that cooties didn't exist; it wouldn't be too long before he outgrew that anyways. Instead, she set down a plate of cookies on the table and sat down with him.

"Not all girls have cooties. Only the mean ones do. You play with Selphie, don't you?"

"Yeah, because she stopped Tidus from beating me up when I was five, remember?"

"I do. See, she's a nice girl, so she doesn't have cooties. Girls that you like don't have cooties either."

Sora's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yes," Sora's mother nodded. "Nice boys don't have cooties either."

"Am I nice?"

"Yes."

"Yay!"

Sora's mother smiled.

"Um..mom?"

"Yes, Sora?"

"Do new, pretty girls have cooties?"

"It depends if she's nice."

"Emmie's awesome!" Sora burst. "She's pretty and has a pretty smile and she's from another Island! Her dad is probably with daddy at the docks, that's why she moved here, and she's annoyed by Selphie too!"

"I thought you liked Selphie," his mother implied.

"I did, but Emmie's right, she can bug me sometimes," Sora said, grabbing a cookie.

"Hm, and has this Emmie talked to you?"

At this, Sora's smile slightly faltered.

"Not really, but see, she barely knows anybody. She talks easily to the girls in class, but maybe she's shy towards the boys. Maybe she thinks _we're_ the ones with cooties."

"Maybe," Sora's mother said, taking a cookie for herself. "Why don't you give her a little gift? Maybe she'll talk to you then."

"Yeah!" Sora said, his face lighting up. "What should I give her?"

"Why don't you make her something? Why not a small piece of jewelry, I still have some old beads..."

"I'll make her a bracelet, girls like those, don't they?"

Sora's mother smiled, then left to get her craft box. Sora happily reached for another cookie, his short legs swinging back and forth from the edge of the chair he was sitting on. Emmie would _love_ the bracelet, he just knew it. She'd smile at him when he gave it to her, then she'd hug him, then Sora would laugh at Tidus and Riku when they'd be so shocked that Sora didn't fall down, dead from such a supposed dangerous exposures to cooties...

* * *

Sora carefully tucked away the little bracelet inside his bag, and happily headed off to school the next day. He was nervous, but mostly excited: he couldn't wait to see the little blonde's face light up when she recieved the gift. 

Inside the classroom, he sat down at the table he shared with Tidus, who was already scribbling away at his unfinished sketch from the day before. Sora looked around the classroom: Emmie sat with some of the girls from the class, but Selphie was sitting alone in the back of the room. When she glanced up, Sora noticed her eyes were wet and red. Why was she sad?

The girls erupted in laughter, and Sora noticed that few of them, including Emmie, shot amused looks towards Selphie. Sora shrugged. Maybe Selphie annoyed them way too much.

The morning session of class went by rather quickly, most of it taken up by their teacher reading a story to them. Sora, however, had barely paid any attention, but only caught phrases of some knight and some princess he had found far away from her castle because she had been sent away...

Their teacher finally dismissed them for their twenty minutes out in the playground, and Sora leapt up and ran to his bag. He took out the little box he had carefully wrapped the night before, and looked around, Emmie was still in the room.

He quickly caught up to her before she left, and Sora was glad that the other girls had left ahead of her, but he hid the gift behind his back.

"Hey Emmie, wait up!"

Emmie turned and looked at him.

"How're you liking it here so far?" he asked. His heart was pounding hard and fast, and he didn't understand why. Emmie shrugged.

"It's okay, just like the other Islands."

"I still need to take you to _our_ Island, the kids' Island! It's really so much fun! No parents, just kids!"

"Okay."

Sora breathed in.

"Uh, I have something for you," he said, revealing the little gift and holding it out to her. "Sorta like a...welcomg gift!"

Emmie tilted her head, then took the box. She opened it at found the beautiful seashell bracelet carefully laid out in the small box. She looked up at Sora, and smiled.

"Oh, it's so pretty! Where did you get it?"

"I made it!" he said proudly. "My mom helped,too. They're shells she found on the beaches here!"

"Oh, wow," she said, heading out of the room, still looking at the bracelet."Thank you _Soda_!"

"Huh? Oh, uh..yeah, no problem!" Sora called out as she left the room. He blinked. Did she forget his name? Smiling, he left the room. She was still new, maybe she didn't really know everybody's name, but she would definately remember Sora now. Feeling very content, Sora quickly took off to the playground, where Tidus was probably with Wakka and Riku now.

Sure enough, he found them kicking and throwing Wakka's blitzball around, and noticing that Emmie and her friends weren't too far away, he joined in, hoping that the whole time he was playing, she was watching him.

* * *

The day was comming to a close, but Sora had not spoken to Emmie since he'd given her the bracelet. Sora didn't mind much; he figured she was too happy telling her friends about the gift, and indeed, Sora had recieved many amused glimpses from giggling girls in his class. He definately didn't care. Tidus, however, who was always at Sora's side during class, was rather confused about the sudden attention, and Selphie herself had remained very upset the whole day. 

The teacher finally dismissed them, and Sora hastened to clean up the table. Picking up final scraps of paper, he headed towards the trash can and made to drop the scraps, but--

Something on top of the pile of trash glimmered. Sora looked at it.

It was the bracelet.

Confused, Sora picked it up out of the trashcan. Had she accidentaly dropped it? Or maybe somebody else had found it, but thought it was trash and had thrown it away? He was sure Emmie herself didn't throw it away, why would she?

He made his way back to his table to pick up his school bag, and left the room, the bracelet still in his hand.

Many of the kids were on the playground, seeing that the weekend began the next day, so the playground remained opened. Emmie sat in the shade of a tree, but Sora's stomach plummeted as he found Riku, Wakka and Tidus playing not too far from them. Selphie was still nowhere to be found. Sora gritted his teeth. He decided to approach Emmie in front of the boys, and show them that not _all_ girls had cooties.

Sora marched up towards Emmie, and Riku, seeing him, called out to him.

"Sora, come play with us! We're going to the Island in a bit, also!"

Sora ignored him. Riku blinked, them looked towards Sora's destination, and his eyes widened.

"Uh...why is he going towards those girls?" Wakka asked.

"Oh no!" Tidus said. "It's that one girl, the new one. Sora likes her! He promised me he wouldn't, though!"

Riku simply looked on.

Sora approached Emmie, who looked up at him, her head slightly cocked to the side.

"Hey, _Soda_." called out a girl. Sora stared at her.

"My name is _Sora_, not _Soda_," he said. He held out the bracelet to Emmie."I think you lost this," he said kindly.

Emmie stared at the bracelet, and the girls around her giggled furiously.

"Go away, she doesn't like you!" cried out one girl.

"Yeah, she _hates_ you!" called another.

Sora heard them, but kept his eyes on Emmie, who was giggling with the girls.

"I don't like it, it was made with things off the ground, it's probably got more germs and cooties than you," she said, and the girls giggled harder.

Riku had enough. He walked towards his friend, who was now standing there with his head hung in shame and humiliation. Emmie's smile grew wider.

"Hi Riku!" she called out.

Sora and Riku both looked up at her, then Sora looked at his friend, his heart plummeting even further. Riku, however, gave her a glare, and a very strong glare for an eight-year-old.

"Let's get out of here, Sora," Riku said, turning and and grabbing Sora's arm in an attempt to pull him away from these nasty girls.

"Wanna sit with us, Riku?" called out Emmie. It was here that Sora glared at Emmie, so harshly that she winced and her smile faded slightly.

"You're probably the most cootie-covered _person_ in the _world_!" he cried, and he broke into a run away from his friends and the girls, hoping that none of them noticed the tears that had begun leaking out of his eyes.

"Sora, wait!" Riku cried, then turned back towards the girls."First Selphie, now Sora? What's so bad about them?!"

"Sora's annoying."

"He's _not_! You are!" Riku cried, and Emmie's eyes widened in surprise. The girls, too, had stopped giggling; they had forgotten to tell Emmie that Riku could be just as mean to the people that were mean to him and his friends.

"But...but..."

"Sora loves making friends, and he's a good one too! He just wanted to make sure you have at least one best friends here!" Riku said, and with that, he broke into a run, in an attempt to find Sora.

Tidus and Wakka stared at the girls, who sat there looking rather dumbstruck, and laughed. Deciding that Riku would find Sora, the two left to find Selphie.

* * *

Sora burst into his house, and ignoring his mother's calls, stomped up the stairs and into his room, slamming his door shut. He dropped his bag and tore off his school tie, then plopped onto his bed, tears still spilling. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the bracelet. 

While he and his mother had sat making it the night before, she had told him about the times she and his dad roamed the beaches when they were younger. She said they would go out to the same Island he played on, and they'd dive into the water searching for rare seashells. When they got older, they stopped going to the Island, but still wandered the beach, and occasionally a very pretty shell would was ashore. His mother told him that she would walk along the beach even right before he was born, when he was "all curled up inside her belly", and that once, he had been kicking very hard and very much, that she wandered around trying to find a pretty seashell to calm him down. She had found a very small but gorgeous, star-shaped shell, and when she found it, Sora had stopped kicking.

Sora had used that very shell in the bracelet; his mother had saved it all these years. He turned the bracelet in his hands. The star-shell was the highlight of the little piece of jewelry, the band being covered with small, but still beautiful, seashells.

A soft knock rapped on his bedroom door.

"Sora, sweetie, are you in there?" came a call from the door.

Sora didn't answer, but hastily wiped his eyes dry as his mother opened the door and came in. His mother glanced at him, and smiled sadly. She went to his bed, sat next to him, and pulled him into a hug, which Sora gladly accepted. Burying his face into her, Sora allowed himself to sob a little more, and his mother stroked his brown spikes; her son had just experienced his first heartbreak, and now learned what a painful thing love could be, even if it was just a tiny puppy crush.

"Mom?"

"Yes, Sora?"

"She's full of cooties."

His mother laughed and hugged him tightly before releasing him. She lifted his chin and looked into his sad eyes.

"Yes, she's one of those you'll want to stay away from, or she'll get you with her evil, smelly cooties!" she said, tickling her son. Sora's laughter broke through his sobs, and when his mom stopped tickling him, he held out the bracelet to her.

"I didn't let her throw it away. Not after you found that seashell when I was being mean to you," he said.

"You weren't being mean to me," his mother said, taking the bracelet."You were growing fast and strong, and you wanted to be out there on the beach." She ran the shells through her fingers, then gave the bracelet back to Sora. "Keep it. When you find a nice, cootie-less girl, you can give it to her."

Sora nodded, and took the bracelet. He then leapt off the bed and headed towards his drawers. he pulled open the highest one he could reach, and carefully tucket the bracelet at the bottom of the drawer.

He then turned around and faced his mother, who stood up and held out a hand to him.

"How about a nice piece of cake to feel better?" she asked, and he smiled.

"Double-trouble fudge?!"

"Of course."

* * *

The rest of the evening passed by quietly, with Sora and his mother reading some of his story books, and later by helping prepare a nice dinner for when his father came home. 

Sora ate his dinner with his parents, and as he washed his dish after dinner, Sora vaguely heard his mother telling his father about the day's events. When he placed his clean plate on the counter, Sora found his dad waiting for him at the kitchen entrance.

"Hi, dad."

"So some girl was being mean to you today?"

Sora lowered his eyes. "Yeah..." he muttered.

"Aw, I didn't mean to get you down again," he said, and Sora looked up to see his father lowered onto one knee, so he could be at his eyelevel. "I just want you to know that she's a very dumb person."

Sora looked at his dad in shock. Didn't he always tell Sora to never say mean things about other people? His dad noticed the look on his son's face, and laughed, rufflinf his hair.

"Anyone who think's you're annoying is not a smart person, especially when they didn't let _you_ show them around the place."

"Yeah, she didn't want to go to the Island. And she hates swimming!" Sora exclaimed, suddenly angry at Emmie."She says the water makes her eyes _sting_! I mean, it did at first, but when you swim with your friends and with fishes and such, it's so much fun!"

Sora's father stood up and walked with his son back into the sitting room, with Sora now talking nonstop. For a while longer, Sora desribed how horrible Emmie had been, and how she'd hurt Selphie also, but he didn't know what they told her, and he told them how Riku had stood up for him when it seemed that Emmie liked _him_...

And then, the house shook. Sora stopped talking abruptly and looked towards the window. He made to get off the couch but his father held out a hand.

"Stay there."

His father pulled aside a curtain, and gasped. Sora leapt off the couch and scurried beside his father.

"Whoa..."

The sky outside was streaked with falling stars. Sora clung onto his father's leg but wasn't too frightened; he was rather hypnotized by the sight.

The lights blinked out from outside, and a second later, from inside as well. While his parents left his side to find some source of light throughout the house, Sora remained at the window. He watched in amazement (and a little fearly) as some of the falling stars ripped throught the sky very close above them, and as some of the smaller ones landed in the water, and the hills and mountains farther inland on the Island.

For a few minutes, Sora feared that some of the stars might fall on his house, of the house of one of his friends, but realized the stars were falling short of the homes and buildings. He bitterly hoped that Emmie was scared out of her wits right now, and hoped that she might even be scared enough to leave the Island. Maybe she thought this was a punishment for beind so shallow and mean, but Sora shook his head. Nah, he wasn't as mean as her. Still, he hoped she was scared right now.

He felt his mother join his side, holding a candle. Sora looked up at her, then back out at the sky.

"It's very pretty," he said.

"Yes. Make a wish, Sora," she told him.

Sora closed his eyes. He wished he could one day meet a cootie-less girl, a pretty one, and one a lot more nicer than Emmie. He opened his eyes and smiled.

"She'll be as pretty as the stars," he said.

* * *

"Is Selphie okay?" 

"Yeah, Tidus and Wakka found her here, and they told her how mean she was to you, and she got mad. Oh, Wakka said he would hit Emmie with his blitzball if she attempted to come here on the Island," Riku explained as they wandered their Island's beach the following morning.

Many of the adults were going around the Islands, searching for any damge. Sora and Riku had come along on Sora's father's boat, but they got bored after a while of just staring at the beaches. So Sora's father had dropped them off on their little Island (well, Sora and Riku had jumped into the shallow waters and swum ashore).

"Hey, I think I left my sword here last time I came," Riku remembered suddenly, and glanced towards the wooden shack.

"Go look for it, I left mine in the Cove," Sora said. Riku nodded.

"Okay, I'll meet you there," and Riku took off, heading towards the shack. Sora himself ran towards the Cove, now suddenly worried. What is something happened to his wooden toy sword?

He found it under the wooden tower that had the rope slide, nice and undamaged. Smiling, Sora headed towards the Cove's beach, warming up by practicing a few swings and hits and parries and jumps and--

Sora's heart skipped a beat. Hea had been walking and nearly stepped on a strange-looking seashell--no, wait, that was a _hand!_ He blinked and looked farther up,

There, lying face-down on the sand, lay a small girl with red-hair. Sora dropped his toy sword and knelt down next to her. She wore a tattered white dress with pink flowers embroidered across the hem and the top, and her shoes were missing.

"Found it, Sora!" Riku's voice came, and Sora turned around.

"Riku, go find help! There's a girl here! I don't know how she got here but we can't leave her here!" Sora moved so that Riku could see the girl, and Riku's eyes widened with shock and fear. He nodded and left immediately. Sora turned back around and noticed her stir.

He didn't know whether to help her, or talk to her, but she stirred enough to roll herself onto her back. Sora looked at her face. He didn't recognize her, but she was pretty. He was sure she wasn't from around there; maybe the storm had brought her from another Island?

She stirred a bit more, and then opened her eyes. Sora's eyes widened: they were a very pretty, unique violet-blue color.

"Are-are you okay? My name is Sora. Don't worry, Riku's gone to get help!"

The girl merely stared at him for a few seconds, then her eyes slid shut again, but not before finding the strength to speak.

"So-ra? Help..."

Sora quickly took her hand; all thoughts of any form of cooties had vanished: this girl was in trouble, and she needed his help.

"It's okay, I'll help you. Don't worry, I'm not mean. I can be your friend if you let me. Don't be scared, I'm here. I won't leave you."

* * *

Kid's can be so cruel, can't they? But some are just so adorable!

There may be an addition to this, I'm not sure yet. But I hoped you all enjoyed this!

Reviews are much appreciated!


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